


The Weakest Link

by Karalora



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, SPOILERS for "Dealing With Intrusive Thoughts", ending on fluff, mild injury and pain, negative self-talk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-20 18:16:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19382116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karalora/pseuds/Karalora
Summary: Roman and Patton chat shortly after the events of DWIT. Light angst, finishing on fluff.





	The Weakest Link

Roman winced as the fresh ice cubes crunched inside the bag. Despite his reassurances to Thomas, he was going to be feeling this for a while, to be sure. The first ice pack had taken down the swelling somewhat, but not all the way, and it hadn't done him any favors at all where the headache was concerned.

The headache. How very appropriate. He'd have to jot that one down for later.

On his way back to his room, he heard sniffling. _Patton..._

He tapped on the Moral Side's door. “Patton? It's Roman. Are you all right in there?”

“Yeah,” came a shaky reply. “You can come in if you want.”

Roman mentally translated that as  _Please come in_ and opened the door.

Despite the tears, Patton was smiling. He was sitting cross-legged on his bed, scrolling through something on his phone.

“I really am all right,” Patton said. He waved at his face. “This is just...purging the ickiness. And this—” He showed Roman his phone, which was currently showing a photo of a baby monkey. “—is cleansing the palate. How are you holding up?” He looked at Roman properly and noticed the bag of ice. “Oh, kiddo, still?”

“Yeah...he _really_ clobbered me. It's still tender.”

“Here, sit. I'll take a look at it.”

“Patton, it's fine. Logan already checked me for concussion and gave me a clean bill of health.”

“No, I want to help. It'll give me something else to think about, and something to do that I'm actually good at.”

Roman dutifully sat on the edge of the bed, feeling Patton nudge up behind him and begin to comb callused but gentle fingers through his hair. He inhaled sharply as the touch brushed over the lump and set it smarting again.

“Sorry,” Patton said. “You've still got a bit of a goose egg here. Hand me the ice pack?”

Roman sighed as the chill settled in, too sharp and too prickling and too  _cold_ but still preferable to the hot ache of the bump. Never mind concussion; he was half-surprised Logan hadn't found any fractures.

Patton's words finally made their way through Roman's thoughts. “Wait...something you're good at? Patton, you're good at lots of things.”

“I wasn't last night, or today,” Patton said with a little tremor. “I messed up, Roman. I lost perspective, and Thomas paid the price. And so did you. I'm still working my way up to forgive myself, to be honest.”

“Well, for whatever it's worth, _I_ forgive you. You don't have to be perfect.” Roman let his head droop away from the ice. _I should be the one apologizing. I'm the weakest link._

“You're what now?”

_Uh-oh, I must have said that out loud._ “Nothing. I'm fine.”

“It didn't sound like nothing. And you don't sound fine.”

Roman sighed extravagantly and shifted position so that he could turn and face Patton. There was no point in trying to play it off. Not here, not now. Not with Patton. “I said, I'm the weakest link.”

“What makes you say that?” Patton asked earnestly.

“Not all the time, just...whenever the Dark Sides start making trouble. I don't bring anything helpful to the table. You and Virgil warn Thomas of their pernicious influence, and Logan brings the facts and figures to drive them off, but me? Deceit can play me like a fiddle. And Remus completely got the drop on me today, and he's my _brother_!” Roman closed his eyes against the sudden pounding in his head. “I'm the weakest link. I should just stick with helping Thomas create content and leave solving his personal problems to you guys.”

Patton's arms were suddenly around him, pulling him into a hug. After a moment, Roman became aware of a growing damp patch on his shoulder. “Patton...?” he said carefully.

“Oh, _Roman_ ,” Patton sobbed. “It's not your fault Remus snuck up on you. It's mine. Mine and Virgil's. If we'd just told you what was going on from the start, you'd have known to be ready for him.”

“Patton, I—”

Patton broke off the hug and pushed away until his hands rested firmly on Roman's shoulders. Fresh tears were spilling down his face, but his expression was resolute. “As for Deceit,” he said, looking Roman square in the eye, “you know he always goes out of his way to keep  _at least_ one of us...out of his way. He has strategies for all of us, and they work more often than any of us would like to admit. Does that make me a weak link? Or Logan?”

“I guess not...” Roman muttered.

“You're darn right it doesn't! If anything, it proves how strong we are, that he tries so hard to keep us out of the conversation! And the same goes for you, ya nutty noble!”

Roman broke the eye contact, looking down with a little half-smile. “You always know what to say, Patton.”

“Not always,” Patton corrected. “Today was proof of that. But I bet Logan would say it's okay not to know something as long as you're open to learning it. Now turn back around; I'm not done giving your head the tender loving care it needs and deserves.”

Roman did, and for a few moments there was silence, broken only by the soft sounds made by the ice pack as Patton shifted it around the back of his head. The ice had melted some, and the texture of the bag was becoming soothingly slushy, a welcome contrast to the previous harshness.

“If you think about it...” Patton said after a while, “...we don't _have_ a weak link. We're strong _because_ we're linked. If you think about it.”

“Yeah. You're right. If you think about it.”

There was another space of quiet.

“Patton?”

“Yeah, Roman?”

“I'm gonna try to think about it more often.”

 


End file.
